The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and Tolkien - The One Ring

The Hobbit is in production as 3 separate films, and will be released 1 year apart, with the first due December 2012. Head in to discuss your thoughts and reactions, and post any questions you might have about these films.

(I don't know for sure if there will be spoilers as I am writing this as I go along)

This is really annoying, whenever Bilbo was in the movie it was incredibly memorable but those moments were too few in my opinion. This is annoying to me as a fan because Bilbo is my favorite character (granted I haven't seen nor read the LotR series, my only experience with this universe is the Hobbit book and movies) and he's by far the best character here. Martin Freeman is excellent in the role and he is the only character that actually seems human for the most part, the rest seem like they could only exist in a movie. And that's pretty ridiculous considering his race is the one race in these stories that is exclusive to this universe.

The most annoying part about it is his name is in the title. It's called The Hobbit Battle of the Five Armies for crying out loud!

Apart from that there's not much to add. Yes Peter Jackson added a lot of his own stuff to fill out three movies, and Peter Jackson usually prefer action and big battler over character moments when making up his own material.

Apart from that there's not much to add. Yes Peter Jackson added a lot of his own stuff to fill out three movies, and Peter Jackson usually prefer action and big battler over character moments when making up his own material.

Thats why we get battle sequences in the films (including the LotR films) where there wasnt in the books, AKA the warg attack in Rohan, Azog and the wargs chasing/attacking Thorin and co before they pass the Misty Mountains and the orc attacks during the barrel ride and Laketown. I havent been able too see the last Hobbit film yet (I will be next week finally though!), but Im sure that there is some battle sequences in there that have been added!

I also agree about Martin Freeman... I like his portrayal of Bilbo very much! In my opinion, there are others that do a great job in the movie as well, but this post is Bilbo specific and I do believe he made an "Excellent" Bilbo.

Martin Freeman was awesome as Bilbo. But I echo the others. There wasn't enough of him. Because a rather simple, non-complicated book was stretched out to three movies, there was a lot of fluff and filler put in. Which in my opinion, didn't need to be there, and weakened what could have been a very powerful story. And alas, such filler also took away from the focus of the story, which was Bilbo.

The way the films are structured makes it kind of run out if steam by the third film.

The first two films = 1 major Bilbo scene per film. Riddles in the dark for film 1 & confronting Smaug in film 2 both have Bilbo facing danger alone in a pivotal scene and outwitting the opponent via smarts rather than fighting.

Film 3 is sorely lacking such a scene or event.

In terns of the book overall, the pivotal scene happens in the chapter "A thief in the night" When Bilbo gives the arkenstone to the elves and the men to try to avert war.

This scene was not given much prominence in the film and happened too early because the main event in the film is the battle.

I wanted so much for Bilbo to give one last display of the awesomeness he showed in the first two films and because he doesn't fight much in the battle itself, I was hoping for his barter of the arkenstone to be that scene in which he showcases his awesomeness. Unfortunately it didn't happen that way.

I didn't notice the lack of Bilbo in BOTFA. Thanks for pointing that out. I was quite expecting for him to join in the fight but was also surprised that he really have to pass out on this one. When I read the books, he did seem really to have skipped being the hero and saviour of the group. It didn't talk even much about why Bilbo withheld the arkenstone from Thorin in the books, not that I liked it less. PJ just added more drama and representation in it, out of the goodness of Bilbo's heart and there I feel where he's saved everyone ... just not in the battle but in his wits and loyalty

I would disagree that Bilbo was "absent" in this last film. He was very present, more so than in DOS.He did a lot and several scenes were added that didn't exist in the book, like the scene with Balin, the acorn scene etc.And those scenes I really liked.

I would say that he is more active here than he is in the part of the book that this films covers.

There are added scenes that he isn't a part of yes but in the LotR book and film there are a lot of scenes that don't have Frodo in them. That doesn't mean that Frodo is "absent".

Hi everyone! My first post on these boards! I agree that Bilbo (Martin Freeman) could definitely have used more screen time. However, I really enjoyed all of the plot twists and additions Peter Jackson added to the movie. I actually found it to be very emotional, and ended up connecting with and caring about characters that were just empty names in the book. (Don't get me wrong, I LOVED the book) I liked how Peter Jackson added dimension and internal conflict to many other characters. Granted, it is called The Hobbit, so Bilbo should have been more prominant.

and ended up connecting with and caring about characters that were just empty names in the book.

I guess you refer to Radagast and some of the dwarves, though I would call them cursory mentions rather than 'empty names'. Tolkien I imagine was the kind of writer who would usually put ridiculous amount of effort into names that would often only be briefly mentioned.

ngaur wrote:I guess you refer to Radagast and some of the dwarves, though I would call them cursory mentions rather than 'empty names'. Tolkien I imagine was the kind of writer who would usually put ridiculous amount of effort into names that would often only be briefly mentioned.

Yes, exactly. I really like what was done with Radagast. You really saw the internal conflict with Thorin when he had the "dragon sickness" and I can't help but love the relationship between Kili and Tauriel (controversial, I know) and throwing in Legolas as part of a love triangle. Tolkien did tend to name drop alot but he did focus on certain characters (mainly hobbits) and made me care about and emphasize with them. I just like how in the movie Peter Jackson broadened that circle of protagonists and added layers to other characters. Unfortunately in doing that it cut some Bilbo screen time..

I think the main reason that Bilbo doesn't feature prominently in the battle of the five armies is that Jackson couldn't believably make Bilbo do extreme fighting scenes so he just made Bilbo take the brunt of all the emotional stuff Jackson needed out of the way.